11 Products That Are Perfect For 35+ Women That Still Break Out But Don’t Want To Look Old And Makeuppy
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by The Candidly Team
This is one of the untold truths about getting older. Just because your skin is aging doesn’t mean you won’t still get acne.
Lovely. We know.
But breakouts and texture do not suddenly disappear because someone told the universe we turned 40. Pores do not magically diminish as our skin loses tautness. Blemishes do not “make way” for the all new superhighways of fine lines.
We feel like we need to talk about this because all the skincare that gets served to us only seems to focus on one or the other - anti-aging or oiliness. And all the makeup that gets served to us tells us too much makeup (powder especially) will age us but “glowy” foundations will leave us greasy and uncovered.
So what to do?
Well, first of all, don’t lose hope. There is really and truly a way to achieve your-skin-but-better, natural makeup that leaves you glowy and radiant and younger looking. This is basically 90% of what our beauty editors spend our time researching, testing product after product for perfection. And we have found a system. It’s easy. It’s precise. And it takes these exact 11 things.
1. THE FACE STUFF
When it comes to finding makeup that’s anti-aging and won’t break you out, the choices can feel overwhelming, and the things we buy often disappoint. We tried to make this very, very easy. We already said powder formulas are a huge part of what makes makeup make us look older (lotta makes in that sentence). So here are the creamy formulas that give us the right kind of glow.
1. BareMinerals Complexion Rescue Natural Matte Tinted Moisturizer Mineral SPF 30
Why we love it: We have been known to call the original formula of this tinted moisturizer “the best tinted moisturizer on planet earth.” This is especially true on mature skin. So when they came out with a matte formula designed to control oil for up to 12 hours, we’ve never added to cart faster. The formula doesn’t go on thick or settle into fine lines or pores. It’s just the smoothest, healthiest-looking sweep of coverage, combined with a quench of squalane for oil-free hydration. It also packs marine botanicals shown to help with sebum production so you get fewer breakouts from using this tint. We use it every single time we wear make up.
* Gifted
Price: $39
2. Tower 28 Swipe Serum Concealer
Why we love it: It is the best concealer for mature skin. That’s the gist. It somehow manages to really and truly cover spots and blemishes without looking cakey. It’s dewy and hydrating but not sticky or shiny, so we get a more natural, airbrushed finish.
* Gifted
Price: $22
3. Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish Refillable Blurring & Setting Powder
Why we love it: Ok, we said no powder, but here’s the thing. Sometimes our oily skin just wins and needs to be dabbed into submission WITHOUT it looking like we applied powder. This is the silkiest, sheerest, most nothing-like powder out there. We always, always have it in our makeup bag.
Price: $49
4. Tower 28 Beauty Sculptino™ Soft Matte Cream Contour + Bronzer
Why we love it: Bronzers can get very greasy and glittery looking, especially if we have oily or combination skin. This one is so natural, not at all orange, and it sort of floats above the skin instead of sinking so it doesn’t exacerbate lines or blemishes. Instead you just look contoured and sun-kissed. It is the most foolproof, hard to mess up bronzer/ contour we’ve ever tried, and we feel very strongly we must tell the worl about it.
Price: $20
5. Rhode Pocket Blush
Why we love it: Our editor-in-chief said it best when she said “it just looks like your skin. Aprés ski. Aprés running. Aprés anything physical.” And no, we did not expect our favorite cream blush for mature skin to come from Hailey Bieber’s brand, but Mrs. Bieber has given all women over 35 a true gift with this one. You can’t go wrong with any shade, but the new color Tan Line is incredible.
We know Hailey Bieber herself is hardly a model for 35+ skin, so here you can see it on our 48-year-old Editor-in-Chief, Audie, here:
Price: $25
6. Charlotte Tilbury Charlotte's Magic Hydrator Mist
We get into the ins and outs of why this product is such a god-send HERE. It’s like a facial in a bottle and the perfect refresh to add after you powder (when you have to) to give you a healthy, glowy, hydrated finish that again, IS. NOT. GREASY.
2. THE EYE STUFF
We can go through all the trouble to make our skin look glassy and flawless then age ourselves 10 years with bad, heavy eye makeup. The trick is to choose a very, very precise liner that will not smudge, a mascara that makes our lashes look like they were gifted to us by the Gods, and to fill in your brows with the single most natural pencil.
7. Ilia Limitless Lash Mascara
Why we love it: It is very, very hard to find a mascara that doesn’t clump or run that still gives us the darkness and depth we want for our lashes, but Ilia has done something deeply special here. Hence, we never shut up about this mascara.
Price: $29
8. Soshe Waterproof Precision Eyeliner
Why we love it: We went through the trouble of writing an entire unsponsored article about how gorgeous this liner is. It is pinpoint thin and therefore, unbelievably natural. Nothing is more precise. It doesn’t drag or bleed and is a dream on hooded eyes. Seriously, a 6-year-old could apply it and not screw it up. And even though it’s waterproof, it washes off easy. Full disclosure: our first Soshe liner was gifted to us, but we’ve gone on to buy refills over and over and over with our own hard-earned dollars.
Here is one of us wearing the shade Lovesick, a soft burgundy brown:
* Gifted
Price: $24
9. Charlotte Tilbury Brow Cheat Refillable Hair-Like Eyebrow Pencil
Why we love it: Simply the best. It gives us the fluffiest, fullest looking brows. And the shade selection is the most natural we’ve found.
Price: $26
3. THE LIP STUFF
Of course, we can have fun with lip color, but there’s a reality to the fact that dark shades and bright reds can make us age us more and more the older we get. They can also bring out some of the redness and pink hues in our skin when it’s broken out or irritated. So finding that unbelievable nude gloss is an absolute must. And we have.
10. The Outset Lip Oasis™ Glossy Treatment - Dune
Why we love it: In a minute, we’re gonna give you a visual of this gloss with a pretty mauve liner that has given us ur best your-lips-but-better nude lip of our lives. But even on its own, this color is plumping perfection, and the exact shade we’ve been looking for our entire adult lives.
* Gifted
11. Merit Signature Lip Sheer Lip Liner
Why we love it: Ok, we have to talk about this Merit liner in the color Bespoke when paired with the above gloss from The Outset. Actually, let’s not talk about it. Let’s just show you what it looks like next to another nude gloss we used to use.
Left: Old gloss that now looks very sad to us | Right:The Outset Gloss in Dune* | Merit Liner in Color Bespoke*
Price: $24
BONUS: THE SKINCARE
Of course, no makeup this will do us any good without a supremely polished skincare routine. Here are the 3 things that have transformed our aging, broken out skin. We mean it.
The Face Serum*: We’ve never experienced a product with this much simultaneous acne-fighting, anti-aging power. It is truly our hold grail that we will not be without.
The Face Oil*: The brightening effect is like magic and we’ve seen fewer and fewer lines since we started using it. And we never ever break out from it.
The Face Cream*: No cream this rich and plumping has ever left our skin so smooth and blemish-free.
Gifted products
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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